May 15, 2009

What Other Country Just Left the U.S. in the Dust on Gay Rights? How About Uruguay?

Hungary just granted gay and lesbian domestic partners a host of federal benefits, and now Uruguay has done what Barack Obama said he’d do as soon as he took office — and has been backpedaling on ever since: The South American country has lifted its ban on gays in the military.

Peru, on the other hand, is regressing:

The Uruguayan president, Tabare Vazquez, scrapped a law from the 1973-85 dictatorship that barred gay people from military academies, cementing his country’s reputation as one of the most progressive in the region.

“The Uruguayan government does not discriminate against citizens based on their political, ethnic or sexual identity,” Vazquez said.

The defence minister, Jose Bayardi, signed the decree this week. The ban had categorised homosexuality among the “mental illnesses and disorders” that rendered military recruits unsuitable to serve. …

Before gay rights advocates could celebrate Uruguay’s decision, Peru, on the other side of South America, announced it would fire police officers who “damaged the image” of the police force.

The centre-right government said the new law, part of a wider crackdown on officers who take bribes or abuse suspects, would mend the force’s tattered reputation.

The supreme court overturned a ban on gay people in the police and military in 2004. The new law tries to skirt that ruling by threatening to fire gay officers who “cause a scandal or damage the image of the institution”.

“The only thing that is penalised now are the scandals that can be caused by a scandalous relationship, if they are homosexuals,” an interior ministry spokesman said.

By contrast, heterosexuals who cause a scandal by adultery face only suspension. Jorge Chavez, president of the Lima Homosexual Movement, said the law appeared to violate constitutional guarantees. “Heterosexuality isn’t scandalous but homosexuality is? It’s discriminatory,” he told the Associated Press.

But that doesn’t diminish the good news coming out of Uruguay — nor should it diminish the shame and embarassment Barack Obama should feel for his bait-and-switch tactics with gay Americans, but obviously, doesn’t.

More at The Guardian.

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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